MR3: My Style: Part I
by FireDitto
Summary: On Hold: Set after Book II: Part II in the works.Spoilers Books I & II Info from book III included, but not as part of the story.
1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth U'Prichard

Did you know that wasn't me, the other Max?" I asked.  
"Yeah."

"When?"  
"Right away."  
"How?" I persisted. "We look _identical_. She even had identical scars and scratches. She was wearing my clothes. How could you tell us apart?"  
He turned to me and grinned, making my world brighter. "She offered to cook breakfast."  
A second later we were laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes all over again. Fang and I leaned against each other and laughed and laughed, unable to speak, for the longest time.

**One**

It was starting to get late. Leaning over slightly, I peeped at Fang's watch; 6:30pm. Time to go. Standing up, I kicked him lightly in the shoulder, got a mumbled reply, and set about awakening the rest of the flock. "C'mon. We'll get something to eat and find somewhere real to sleep." This got Nudge and Gazzy up, and Angle wandered around rubbing her eyes for a moment. "Ready?" With a few 'yups', we took to the air, Total tucked away in Fang's backpack.

Everyone – mainly Nudge – was silent as we flew over the darkening world, eyes searching the below lights for somewhere to eat. And guess who found it first? Yup, you guessed it.

"There!" Nudge pointed down, having spotted the flashy lights that the big fast-food takeouts use.

"Let's go eat," I said, grinning. I could really use some food. We dropped towards the ground, landing lightly in a shadowed alleyway where we couldn't be seen, and trooped off down the street to the subway shop, and ordered our outstanding array of food and drink. The two attendants looked at us, shocked, but with a dark glower from Fang, set about doing as asked.

Sitting down at a table, I dug into my food, the flock following along without prompting.

"Where next?"

I looked over at Iggy, who was staring at me blindly, drinking his coke.

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it, and said "We'll worry about that tomorrow. Done?" Some nods, "Ok, let's find somewhere to stay." The attendants watched us leave, staring at our foodless trays. Humans truly are pathetic. Angel laughed, and I frowned at her.

"Sorry," she giggled, looking up at me innocently. Yup, we really needed to talk about this mind-reading of hers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

I found us a hotel, one of those cheap ones with dingy beds and bad paint jobs. But it had four walls and a roof… And a bathroom. We booked two double rooms, both with trundle-bed things. I sent Angle to the bathroom for a shower while Nudge and I stared absently at some crack-pot show on the box. It was very boring. The boys were doing whatever it is boys do before bed in their room. So long as they are all clean and alive in the morning, I didn't really care.

"Max?" Oh, here we go. "So, like, where are we going? 'Cause, you know, we can't stay here. Can we go to the beach again? Or maybe back to Disney world? 'Cause we didn't get to spend long there, and there are still like, heaps of rides to go on, and it'll be fun and -" Angle walked out of the shower. Grinning tolerantly at Nudge – she smiled bashfully back – I shooed her into the room. "We'll see," I added as she shut the door.

"Max?" I looked over at Angel. She was sitting on the corner of the bed, looking at me with a slightly puzzled expression. Can she read thoughts you're not thinking?

"No, but will you brush my hair?" I frowned at her, puzzled.

"Um, I guess so." She grinned, and I sat down behind her, pulling the comb through her wet curls.

"_Do_ you know where we're going to go, Max?"

Angel's voice pulled me out of la-la land, and I looked down at her face, her head bent backwards to look up at me, a little smile on her face.

"No idea," I replied, grinning back, "how about we decide at breakfast tomorrow?"

"Ok," and I hopped up as Nudge came out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me. _At least if we all decide, it won't be so bad when Erasers stick their ugly noses in. _It sucks when you're the one making the decisions that end up leading to a pack of Erasers… Well, it does!

Sopping wet and wrapped in a towel, I wasn't prepared to greet my fuzzy-self in the mirror, and bit back a squeal of alarm as Eraser-Max glared back out at me. Like always, my hand flew to my face, then I looked down at it. Human. What was with these damned hotel mirrors! Were they hoaxed or something?

_Respect the enemy, Max_. Great.

_And what does_ that _mean, pray tell?_ Guess what? No answer. Big surprise.

I slipped out of the bathroom to find a single lamp on, and my girls lying down in bed, facing each other, whispering something. Total was lying across Angel's waist, looking intently at the pair of gossiping girls.

"We're not gossiping!" Angel sounded indignant as she looked up at me.

I frowned at her. "You're getting a little too comfy with reading my mind, Ange."

She grinned at me, blue eyes wide. Damn.

"Sleep time." I said instead, flicking off the lamp as I walked past, and ignoring the single trundle thingy, I scrambled over the top of Nudge – who protested between giggles – and stuffed myself between them.

"Night!" We stacked fists, and slept. Yay.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Nothing happened in the night, for once, and I was woken up when Nudge threw her arm out and clobbered me in the nose. Thanks. Removing her fist from my face, I got up, waking the two girls; we dressed and gathered our stuff, woke the boys and paid for our rooms.

"Where for breakfast?" I asked absently, stuffing my credit card into my back pocket – no one was game to steal it from there.

"There?" Gazzy asked, pointing across the road and down towards the subway we'd eaten at the other night. I shrugged, and we walked down to it, again ordering our huge amounts of food, and retreating to an easy-escape table that was also out of the way.

"Are we going to Disney world now?" Nudge asked, speaking around her food.

"Can we? We didn't get to do anything last time. Ari ruined it." Gazzy added, also around a plate's worth of food which was in his mouth.

"Um," I looked over at Fang, who shrugged – thanks – and Iggy, who was frowning, trying to work out who was voting yes and no. "Wanna go to Disney world, Ig?"

His eyebrows shot up, figuring he was the last to vote, and grinned. "Sure."

"Then yes, Nudge, we're going to Disney World."

Nudge exclaimed a loud 'yes' at the same time as Gazzy yelled 'sweet'. People stared at us as I hushed them, and we left shortly afterwards, looking for an out of the way place to take off – an alley way – and took to the air, heading towards Orlando.

"You know," I turned to look at Fang as he glided in beside me, "this is the second day without Erasers." He raised a dark brow.

"I know. It's starting to worry me." I grinned, half amused, half serious.

"Reckon they'll bust us up at Disney?"

"Probably," I said thoughtfully, watching Gazzy and Iggy who were in front of us.

"They better not," Total chimed in, "I want to go on more rides."

I smiled at him, and then flashed ahead to where Nudge and Angel were playing some sort of mid-air game; what can I say? It looked interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

"There it is! THERE IT IS!" Nudge squealed as the mouse-eared tower came into hawk-view. We were still a ways off, but you know, I'm not the only one who can fly at 200 miles when the world of Disney comes into view. Those kids can really zoom!

"We'll land _inside_ the park, guys," I said, as we finally appeared to be right over the central area of Disney. "Over there," and we winged our way over to the large area of trees, landing in the branches we dropped to the ground as much out of sight as someone dropping out of a tree in the middle of an over-populated theme park can be. _Fly? Us? Never!_ And quickly mingled. Total was again dressed as a guide dog – don't ask me how that gunk was all saved – and Iggy was playing the blind-human like a super star. Probably helped that he was blind and totally lost in all the noise, but, you know.

"That one first!" Gazzy bounced up to me, left hand holding a cotton-candy stick, his right waving towards a rather dangerous looking roller coaster. Is it legal to have that many loop-de-loops and ups and downs? It looked sickening - Which of course made it brilliant to the younger kids.

"Ok," and he tugged me along at high speed, the others following as Fang explained what the ride looked like to Iggy.

"Line isn't too bad," he added, stepping up beside me.

It wasn't, and we all loaded ourselves on, Angel and Nudge at the front, Gazzy behind Angel, and me behind Gaz. Iggy was next to the Gasman, with Fang behind him, next to me. We strapped ourselves in, and awaited take-off. It was absolute horror.

"Oh, my, God." I said slowly, climbing out of my seat and herding the rest of the flock out down the exit hall.

"That was _brilliant!_" Nudge said in a high-pitched excited voice.

_Yeah, right. I solemnly swear never to go on a rollercoaster like that again._

"Max?" I looked over at Fang, who was frowning at me, the rest of the flock and Total were in front of us, pointing at two different rides and then trying to decide which to go on.

"Yeah?"

"You look… sick," Fang said slowly, frowning as he studied my face. I grimaced.

"I now understand why humans are afraid of heights." I said matter-of-factly, and marched past him. He looked totally lost, and it was really funny. He caught up with me, still frowning and we followed Iggy as he was dragged off by Total towards one of the rides. The others were laughing.

"What does that mean?" Fang asked quietly.

I flushed, not looking at him, but watching Angel. "I don't like being locked in. It was… wrong." What did you think I was going to say? Scary?

"Well then," he smirked at me, "You'll love this one." I frowned at him and he nodded at the ride chosen by the Flock – or rather, Total – and I stopped dead. Ok, so I thought the loop-de-loops and ups-and-downs were wrong. This ride was death.

Ok, so I went on the rides last time we were here, but you know, those were pretty tame until the main bit – like that water ride – but these were all twisted and spiny the whole way through. To get out of that, I'll have to look weak, but you know what? For once I didn't care. Fang was smirking at me.

"No way in hell." I said firmly, but he grabbed me by the arm, just above the elbow, and proceeded to drag me towards the ride; when did he get so mean?

"Max?" I was digging my heels in and slapping at Fang's hand, eyeing the ride off. The sound of Nudge's voice whipped my eyes around.

"Yup?" I asked, shaking Fang off now that we were in line.

"What were you doing?"

"Me?" I asked innocently. Nudge nodded. "Well," I started, "I was… escaping." And I bounded over the fence that showed where the cues went, and waved happily. "I'll wait at the exit." Fang was smirking at me, and the others looked surprised as I marched over to the exit to await my foolish flock.

**Fang's POV**

"Uh, ok…" Iggy said slowly, taking a shuffling step forwards. "What was that about?"

I was still smirking as the others looked up at me. "Max doesn't like the roller coasters."

"Oh. Why was she escaping?" He was puzzled as he looked blindly at me, frowning.

"Fang dragged her into line," Angel said softly, also shuffling forward. "She really doesn't like the rides, you know."

"Really?" Nudge asked, blinking.

"Yup, her mind was in chaos on the last one."

"I thought she told you not to read her mind?" I scolded, looking down at Angel's blond head. She wasn't looking at me, but peering around the people in front of her to see the ride.

"She did, but not many people were scared, and you know, she sent off vibes."

"She was scared?" Gazzy asked, eyes wide, and Angel pursed her lips.

"We're next!" Total hissed, not listening to the conversation, and tugging Iggy forward.

I followed the Flock, feeling slightly guilty about dragging her into line, but mostly confused. Why would Max fear a rollercoaster? It wasn't like it was that bad.

**Max POV **

"Liz! Come back here!" The boy's voice broke through my musings as I waited for the flock to have their go on the ride. Turning, I looked around to see who was calling out, and instead found my face filled with the small, round face of a girl. She had dark red hair, cut to about two inches long, with the last half an inch dyed black and it was spiked up with gel. She was much shorter than me, less than five feet. She had brilliant green eyes lined by black eye-liner, and blinked at me, then looked down at something in her hand. She looked back up at me, frowning, then turned around and called out to her friend. "This is her!" I froze.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**   
The girl before me turned back, looking up at me with a huge smile splitting her pretty face. She didn't say anything until her friend caught up with her, a frown on his face. I shifted my suspicious gaze from the girl to look at her companion.  
He was tall – probably taller than Fang, though he had the same look about him – closed off, bottled up. His face was smooth with a pale complexion, and his eyes were a golden hazel, looking down at me curiously.  
He towered over the girl, the top of her spiked hair just making it to his shoulder, which was covered by his own chestnut-gold hair. He was dressed in brown and green army-type cloths with black boots. His jacket was large and baggy.  
"You sure?" He was frowning at me, eyes narrowed, but talking as if I wasn't there at all. It was really irritating.  
"Yup," the girl chirped, shoving her square of paper at him. "See?"  
The girl was dressed in a full length dress, dark emerald with black stitched patterns around the hem. It was designed so that the skirt could be removed, though I'm not sure why I noticed that.  
The boy looked across at me, having glanced at the item in his hands. "You're Max?" He asked, almost suspicious.  
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Who's asking?"  
"Max?" The girl laughed softly, and I sent a look of daggers across my shoulder at Fang, who was frowning at the two before me as he led the flock over.  
_Stupid, idiot teenage boys!_


	6. Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10

**Six**

Fang was eyeing the pair off as he stopped at my left shoulder, and Iggy stepped up to my right, dragged by Total. I motioned for the younger kids to stay back.

"So you are Max?" The boy asked again, and I nodded warily, and Fang's dark eyes narrowed. On my other side, Iggy frowned behind his black sunnies.

"Good. I'm Bree, this is Liz. We were sent to warn you."

"Oh?" Who were these clowns? Jeezum, the way he was talking was like he was waiting for me to throw myself at him in thanks.

_Relax, Max. Go with the flow_.

_Great, just great._ I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Liz was frowning at Fang, who was watching me intently with his 'the Voice is back' face. I gave a tiny nod, and saw his jaw tighten.

"Follow me. We have a room booked, and we can talk there." Bree spoke with quiet confidence, gaze on me. The girl – Liz – smiled winningly at Fang, who was still scowling.

"Right," I said, but none of us moved, "Why should we?" I felt the three youngster's shift carefully, preparing for flight of fight, literally. _What are the chances of U&A?_ I wondered, keeping a wary eye on Bree and Liz.

"He was right, she's way cautious," Liz frowned at me, looking and sounding slightly irritated, her smile now gone.

"He?" Iggy asked, speaking up at last. From his tone, I could tell we were all sure who it was.

"Jeb," Bree started. _Yup_, I think. _We need an U&A._ "He sent us to warn you." Bree's voice was all soft and cautious, his hazel eyes boring into my own, before scanning the crowed.

_Looking for back up, or an escape?_

"Uh, huh. How do we know Jeb's not waiting in this room of yours?"

Bree shrugged, "Trust us."

Ok, now _that_ is funny. I laughed, a bitter sort of sound, and looked at Bree and Liz in a pitying sort of way. "I don't trust anyone - especially those in league with Jeb. Goodbye." I spun on my heel, motioning for the flock to move off; arm brushing Iggy's so he knew where we were going.

I didn't get two steps.

**Seven**

Bree jumped me before I knew what was happening, and I didn't have time to react before his cold hand was down my back – wtf? – And then I knew, as he painfully twisted my wing _just so_, speaking harshly.

"Anyone moves and I snap it," The flock all crouched into fighting-stance, before slowly straightening up, I stood frozen, and saw Liz out of the corner of my eye. She was staring at Bree like he was insane. _Wow, we're on the same level there, babe._

"Bree!" Liz spluttered, marching up beside us, "What are y-"

"Shh!" He hissed at her, and then leaned forward to whisper in my ear, "Jeb said you wouldn't trust us. Said we'd have to prove ourselves one of the 'Flock'. We don't have time for that. Now, would you like to come with one whole wing, or two?" His whispering was so low I knew I was the only one who could hear him, and I snarled at him, wishing I could rip his arm off. What an ass!

"Fine!" I spat, and felt his grip on my wing loosen, just enough that it wouldn't snap as he turned me around and shoved me in the direction he wanted to go.

"Let's go." He said, and shoved me again so that I walked. I could hear the flock behind him.

"Let her go, Bree." Liz said sternly, "You won't convince them we're on their side if you snap her damned wing!"

"No." Bree said, tightening his grip just slightly for a moment, "She'll vanish if I let go. I'm not _that_ stupid. Besides, better her wing than mine." He sounded so matter of fact, and I hated him for it, before what he'd said actually sunk in.

_He has wings?_ I thought, stopping in shock, and feeling his grip tighten.

_Go with the flow, Maximum._

I didn't even get to respond, you know, because my head exploded.

**Eight**

Liz's POV

Scowling, I walked along beside Bree. He was such an idiot sometimes. Must be because he's male, you know. Behind me, I could hear the dark-haired one issue orders to the others, and then he was beside Bree, on the other side. Both of us looked at him, but he wasn't watching us, he was looking at Max.

The dark haired one smirked as Bree spoke about Max vanishing if he let her go and that was all I needed to know it was true. The wing comment caught them both by surprise, however, and I halted when Max did, glancing at the dark-haired guy as he blinked. Wow, not one for facial expressions, was he?

"Move!" Bree said, shoving her again, and then dropped her in surprise as she slapped her hands to her head and fell to the ground in a moaning lump. What the –

"You idiot!" The one beside us snarled, just as the youngest girl dashed forward, blond curls bouncing. "Max!" They both dropped to her side as the rest of the flock came forward, pushing us out of the way.

"Wow…" I said softly, quickly seeing she wasn't faking – she was totally crying and out of it – "What's wrong with her?" No one answered, but that didn't really surprise me.

"She's not going to die, is she?" Bree sounded unimpressed and irritated, which is way out of character for him, and I felt my stomach drop. If she died, we were so screwed.

"No." The dark haired one stood up, Max in his arms. "Where're we going?" Ok, that was surprising. Bree and I stared at him a moment as his eyes narrowed, and then Bree set off at a jog.

"This way," they kept up easily, with Max in some sort of seizure, as we lead them to the room we'd paid for.

"See, no Jeb and no Erasers," I said, almost cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. The one carrying Max frowned at me, but said nothing as he and the other's made their way over to the couch, and placed Max on there. She was coming out of it now, just breathing hard. I stood quietly beside Bree, watching with interest.

**Nine**

I felt myself lifted off the pavement – Fang – and carried. Words were spoken, but I didn't process them, too worried about keeping my brains inside my head and off my friends. I hated this. I felt Fang stop, then was placed on a couch. I wondered how long it had taken them to get to wherever we were now, because it didn't feel like long. I shuddered, cursing the Voice and its damned brain explosions.

_Sorry. You were being difficult. It was easier this way._

_Yeah, for you maybe,_ I thought, carefully opening my eyes and looking up at the six worried faces around me, Total in Iggy's arms. I blinked at them, and then carefully lowered my hands. Damn it all.

"Welcome back." Fang said lowly, almost out of hearing, and I glanced at him. He looked worried. Fair enough, this was the first time I'd had a brain attack in ages. I'd be worried too; if Voice hadn't told me it'd brought it on purposely. I probably should be more worried because of that. I grimaced, sitting up, and gave Fang a 'talk later' type of look. He nodded, and stepped aside. I scowled.

"You again." I'm such a lovely person.

Both Bree and Liz looked very relieved, "What was that?" Bree asked, frowning slightly.

"Nothing." I lied, looking around the room. Typically Disney, there were characters everywhere. We were in a lounge room, the TV a short distance across from me. Must be one of those family room things that you stay in when you're like, a tourist or something.

"Fine. Can we talk now?" I frowned at him.

"About what?" I smirked. I could think up quite a few things to say, but I don't think they'd be very happy at hearing what that was.

"We were sent to warn you," Liz said, and I gave her a 'no _duh_' look. She looked slightly put out at that.

"Why did Jeb send you to warn us?" Fang asked, sitting on the arm of the chair beside me, arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed. Ohh beware the Fang.

"A few things." Bree started, sitting down on the TV table. Liz sat down beside him. I felt the couch shift as the rest of the Flock settled down around me.

"Firstly, Max escaped, and no one has been able to find her." Um, ok, that could hardly be good. I shrugged, playing it off, and looked at them expectantly.

Bree looked a little put off. J_eezum, Jeb didn't tell them much about me, did he?_

_No. They know only the basics. He decided you'd tell them what you wanted them to know, when and if you chose._

_How do you know this?_

No answer. That didn't surprise me, but the Voice's knowledge of the two before me was worrying. I felt Fang elbow me in the shoulder, and re-focused on Bree. They were both frowning at me.

"So?"

Bree sighed. "We have to find her. She's a major upgrade of you. Do you realise the trouble she could cause?" He sounded irritated again. Heh, this was fun.

_Grow up, Maximum._

_Why?_

_This is important. If you're not going to pay attention…_

It left it hanging, and I pursed my lips. Threatening me with a brain attack! How mean was that?

_Fine._

"So, we need to find you."

"As you said." I replied in a bored tone, now looking at Liz. "What else?"

Liz was trying to smother a grin. "There's an improved batch of Erasers ready for, uh, flight." I turned my gaze back to look at him.

"Oh?" Well, this at least was interesting. "What have they added this time?"

"Nothing," Liz said, sounding serious, before grinning at our faces, "They just upgraded their wings. More streamline now, and know how to fly shortly after birth. Smoother morphing, and are less model-like in appearance."

Okay, this was a worry. I felt Fang tense beside me. Their model-like appearance was one of the few ways of identifying them before they attacked.

"So, how do you know them?" Nudge asked, speaking worriedly.

"They aren't too different, but they're improving them. The wings are what you should really worry about. They are made stronger, more stream-line, and tuck in close to their spine – when they aren't morphed, you can't see them." He stressed this. The bunch of winged Erasers we'd seen previously were obviously add-ons, and painful. If they were born with them now… I frowned.

"And Jeb wanted you to warn us about this?" I asked, skeptical.

"Yes. Said you should focus on finding the girl, and that you didn't need new and improved Eraser's chomping your toes. They'll still come, mind. But now you can prepare for them." Liz grinned at me, bright and cheerful.

"Right," I said carefully, looking on the wall above their heads at the clock. It was getting late – where had all the day gone? – And then back at them. "How many does this room hold?"

Liz grinned. "All us girls; Bree will get another room for the boys."

I nodded. "What about food?" Nudge perked up beside me, looking expectantly at Bree and Liz.

"Yes, real food. No more fairy floss. If I eat any more of that I'll hurl." I laughed softly.

"We can order something. What do you want?" Liz stood up, and Nudge and Gazzy followed her, talking excitedly about what they wanted.

**Ten**

I was sitting around the large family table in the middle of the 'girls room', about eight boxes of super-sized pizza piled on top, the TV screaming insults at our ear-drums, the younger kids watching the Disney channel. Original, huh?

I was nibbling on my, say, tenth piece of pizza when Fang came over and sat down beside me. Liz was sitting next to Nudge in the lounge, and both of them were laughing at the TV. Angel was sitting on the other side of the couch, frowning at them with a small smile. Gazzy and Iggy were playing a board game with Bree, who looked frustrated because the blind guy was winning… constantly.

Fang was watching me, and I smiled around the piece of pizza. He frowned at me, looking slightly amused.

"What'd he do, before?"

Huh? Oh. "Not sure. He could have snapped me, though." I scowled. That was not a position I'd like to be in again any time soon. Fang looked slightly surprised.

"I thought he was bluffing, you know." He spoke softly, so the others wouldn't hear us over the roar of the TV.

"Really?"

"Yup, then I thought _you_ were bluffing." Oh, my brain attack. I scowled. "Why'd that happen?"

I shrugged. "Apparently because I was 'being difficult.'" Fang looked shocked – he blinked.

"It wanted us to speak with them."

"Apparently," I repeated, putting down the crust. "It could've just said so, though." I almost smiled, but not quite. Fang nodded agreement.

"Have you changed plans, then?" Again with the quite tone.

"Nope. I still say we go to New York. I've just got a feeling."

"No Voice."

"Nope, just a feeling. We need to go there for some reason or another." I pursed my lips. "These new Erasers are bit of a worry. Bred knowing how to fly and all." Fang nodded again, looking thoughtful.

"What about them?" He nodded towards Bree, who was scowling at Iggy, and Liz, who was laughing with Nudge.

"No idea. I guess they'll return to Jeb?" I frowned again. Damn, I was going to get some major wrinkles from all this frowning.

"Then don't frown." Angel said sweetly, coming to a stop beside me.

"Hoy, what'd I tell you about reading my mind?" Angel grinned innocently.

"Something…" she said slowly. "But I was wondering, when you went on that first rollercoaster, your mind went spazz. Why?"

I blinked at her, and felt Fang's curious gaze on me. "Um, it did?"

"Yup, you were all like 'fear, fear, death, dying' and stuff. It was really scary. You've never done that before."

Both of them were watching me with interest. "I don't know. I just remember not liking it, and that it would be really bad to go on the next one…"

_Everything happens for a reason, Maximum._ I swear it sounded smug, and I frowned again.

"You're frowning." Fang teased, and I cleared my brow.

"'Everything happens for a reason?'" I repeated, puzzled. "Oh, damn." Angel giggle. "Voice did that, too… Didn't you?"

_Very cleaver, Maximum._

Scowling, I got up from the table and stalked off.


	7. Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15

**Eleven**

It was late, and we all stacked fists – with Bree and Liz watching curiously – before the boy's departed for their own room. Fang smirked at me as he left, and I pulled a face at him as I shut the door, locking it.

"Bed." I said, turning around to see the three girls watching me. Angel nodded, and we set off towards the rooms.

There were two, one with a double bed, which Angel and Nudge took, and one with two single beds; A family apartment place. I made sure Angel and Nudge were settled, and wandered into the room. Liz was sitting on one of the beds, the one opposite the door. She'd left me the one by the window. I sat down on it, and waited.

"I'm sorry about what Bree did." She sounded sincere enough.

"Me too." I said, smiling slightly as I tugged off my jumper, then my top, wandered over to the mirror in my tank-top (I'd shut the curtains) to check out any damaged he'd done to me. My feathers were all spazzled up. Damn. Stretching out my wing, I set myself the difficult task of settling the feathers back into place. Smiling, Liz got up cautiously and came over, gently settling them back the way they were supposed to be.

"Thanks," I said softly, and she grinned, before brushing her fingers across a small section on my left wing, near my shoulder.

"What happened here?" She asked, frowning. I twisted my head.

"Oh, I was shot." I said it all matter of fact, and she hissed.

"By who? Why?" She sounded shocked as she examined the small scar on my left wing, then came around to stand in front of me, and motioned for me to extend both wings.

"Some crack-pot kid." I answered absently, spreading my thirteen-foot wingspan before her appreciative eye. I guess she was comparing me to Bree, or possibly herself, though I'd heard no comment about her having wings.

"Sweet…" she whispered, and then froze. I stiffened as I saw her eyes widening, expecting to hear the snicker of one of the boys or something behind me at best, the snarl of an Eraser at worst… I was dressed in my jeans and tank-top, my shirts thrown carelessly on my bed.

"Liz?" I asked quietly, retracting my wings and turning to see what she was staring at. I couldn't see anything – What the?

"Did you know that was there?" She whispered, her face ashen, and pointed at something in the middle of the hall, pointing right at us.

I swore. "No. Go and wake the boys. I'll get the girls up. We're leaving. NOW!" I added loudly as she continued to stare at the security camera that was zoomed in on us.

She nodded and dashed past.

**Twelve**

Throwing on my shirts, I gathered up mine and Liz's things, and ran into Nudge and Angel's room, tugging the blanket off them; I threw their cloths at them, talking rapidly in a Nudge way.

"Up, get dressed, we're leaving, _now_. Hurry up, girls. Quick!" Angel – reading my mind, no doubt – picked up on the seriousness of the situation, and I shook Nudge gently, and half dressed her as she tried to wake up. Total danced around our feet, looking worried though not speaking. I had them up and ready to go in five long and stress filled minutes.

"Max? What happened?" I looked up, seeing Fang standing in the doorway to the room Nudge and Angel had been in, frowning. He was dressed and alert – probably hadn't been asleep to begin with. Iggy and Gazzy were with him, looking ruffled. I could hear Liz talking quietly to Bree in the lounge room.

"I'll explain later, we need to go. C'mon, let's go." I shoved Total at Iggy, and put my own back-pack on, leading Nudge out of the room – she was still way out of it – and over to the window.

There was a knock on the door.

I froze in the act of shoving them towards the window. Liz came up beside me, looking terrified as another knock came on the door.

"I've taken them all out. They can't see in here any more. We locked the door, but they'll have a master-key. We need to go – now."

"Max?" Fang said urgently, fingers brushing my arm. "What happened, Max?"

I looked over at him, pursing my lips, and then pointed at the now broken security camera that had been surveying the rooms.

"That,' I said slowly, scowling, "but I'll explain later. Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, Nudge, OUT!" And I shoved them, as I spoke their names, at the window. Obediently, they all launched out of it. "Meet us on the coaster tracks." They nodded, and Nudge led them off.

"We are entering now," came a deep voice through the window, and I gestured urgently for Bree, Fang and Liz to all get out the window.

Bree went first, hovering just outside the window, he held his arms open while Fang and I frowned at him, and caught Liz as she threw herself out the window and at him. They followed the rest of the flock. Fang gave me a 'what the hell?" look, and then slipped out the open window like a dark shadow. I climbed up onto the window to follow him just as the door opened, and about twelve people all came pouring in, guns held up and ready. I froze, wings half unfurled, and stared at them. They stared back.

"Bye, boys." I said sweetly, and dropped out of the window head first, straight down. I heard a shout – we were on the 7th floor – and then they were staring out the window. I used the darkness to hide me, dropping down the building; I then followed a dark path and went around the building the long way to where the flock was waiting for me.

"Max!" Nudge called, relief filling her voice, as I landed lightly on the track behind them all. I hugged her when she threw herself at me, smiling slightly.

"I think its time we left Disneyworld, my friends." I said softly, and got some very serious nods in return from the younger kids, but Fang just gave me a 'you'd better explain soon' look.

"I'll explain later." I promised to the group at large, meeting Fang's gaze, and he nodded slightly. "Ok, let's get out of here."

I shot up into the air, the flock following me, Bree again carrying Liz, and we headed off in the Northerly direction of New York.

**Thirteen**

We only flew for about 200miles, so we were only in the air for a couple of hours. It was long enough for it to get dark and cool though, and we were all shivering while our wings felt hot. Well, everyone except Liz. I was still confused about her being carried. She either didn't have wings or didn't use them, and I was beginning to think it was the former.

"Town," Fang said quietly, pointing to the lights coming off the settlement below. I nodded.

"We'll find somewhere to stash for the night there, then." Fang nodded his agreement, and we called the flock to order, leading them down to land in a thick group of trees with shrubs below them. Fang pulled out a heap of bars from his back-pack and we snacked on these, hot wings tucked into our backs and arms wrapped around knees as we huddled on the branches. Gazzy came and sat in my lap, since Angel was the only one Fang would let that close to him; Iggy and Nudge were sitting beside each other on a branch just below me. Bree and Liz were to my right, and Angel and Fang to my left.

I took first watch, after battle of the glare with Fang, and stared boredly at the world below, watching as the lights in the town faded away and everything went black. I was about 3 in the morning when Liz woke up - I was supposed to wake Fang for his watch, but couldn't be bothered finding something to throw at him.

"You're still awake?" Liz whispered from the confines of Bree's arms, looking over at me. I nodded quietly, feeling Gazzy's easy breathing under my own arms. His blonde head was just below my chin.

"Do you want me to take Watch?" She whispered again, sitting up a little.

I shrugged, "I can't sleep - Too much on my mind." I saw her red head nod agreement.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, and I almost smiled.

"Yeah, me too." I said instead, looking over at her. Her green eyes were wide and sad. "It wasn't your fault." I added, just to clear that up.

"Perhaps, but there was so much that could have been done to avoid that… And now they have a video of us – you and I – and I'm already classified as missing, and you're like…" She fell off, not sure what to say.

"A mutant freak?" I supplied, and she gave a bitter snort.

"That'll work."

I felt my neck prickle a moment before Fang spoke, and so he didn't make me jump. Liz, however, did. "What do you mean, you're 'already classified as missing'?" His dark eyes were narrowed.

"I was kid-knapped." Liz said quietly, looking down at her knees. "Bree rescued me when he escaped to come and warn you." Her voice was low. "I don't know what they would have done to me… He brought me along to find you. Said I could help, and he didn't mind carrying me."

I stared at her, my feelings confirmed. "You're human." I stated. She nodded, and I felt more than heard Fang say "I thought so."

"I should have told you," she said softly, and I thought _yeah_, "But I was worried you would send us away if I did, and with Bree damaging your wing…" I felt Fang stiffen and tuned to look at him.

"He hurt you?" He mouthed, and I smiled, shaking my head.

"I was repairing feather damage to my wing. Liz was helping. That's why we had to go. The security camera saw my wings. I had my back to it. Liz saw it first. It was zoomed in on us…" I faltered to a stop at Fang's murderous look.

"Brilliant. You'll be all over the papers…" He sighed in a resigned manner, and I glared at him.

Liz smirked, "Yeah, and she's not got much on." I flushed scarlet in the darkness, glad they couldn't see, and saw Fang's eyes widen. Liz laughed softly.

Time for a change of subject, I think.

"What's the time, Fang?"

He stared at me for a moment, and then pressed the button on his watch to light it up. "Four thirty." Ok, I was an hour off. "It was my watch over two hours ago." He scolded, and I shrugged.

"I thought it was only three."

"That still means it was my watch." I shrugged again.

"When will we leave?" Liz asked, heading off the impending battle of words. I turned to look at her.

"Seven, seven thirty. Let the kids sleep a while longer."

"Okay. You two go back to sleep. I'll finish the watch."

I shrugged, but Fang looked ready to do battle.

"Your watch is over in like, twenty minutes. Don't worry. I'll wake you up at seven." Liz spoke sweetly, and I smiled secretly into Gazzy's hair, closing my eyes.

"Let her take the watch, Fang." I didn't get a reply, but it didn't matter, Liz would watch and I would sleep.

**Fourteen**

Liz's POV

I could feel Bree's arms around me, and snuggled closer to him as the Max and Fang both went back to sleep. I felt guilty about Max and her wings being caught on video. She'd be all over the news by the end of the now dawning day. Everyone would know that there was at least one winged person in the world, and they would all know what she looks like… And they would know what I looked like, the missing kid, stolen away on her way home from school shows up with winged girl. Life was already unsteady, and now it would be doubly so, because people would recognise me and Max.

I sighed lightly, watching as the moon faded away, and the town lights started to come on in houses, as the street lamps turned off, and the sun rose on the horizon. It was really cool to watch, and I would have enjoyed it if I hadn't been so stressed.

I turned to wake up Max and Fang, but found the latter already awake. He was staring over Angel's head with a concerned expression on his face. Wow. Even in the few hours I'd been with the group, I'd discovered that Fang didn't show emotions. He sighed softly, and then turned to face me. I smiled slightly, a sort of good-morning, and he frowned at me, before nodding slightly. Wow, cheerful fellow, in't he?

"Should we wake her?" I asked, indicating Max. He shook his head, and detangled himself from Angel. The little girl woke up, blinking, and Fang stepped away along the branch, telling her to go back to sleep. She nodded, looked at me, smiled and then closed her eyes again.

"I'm going to go get the newspaper." He said softly, I nodded, and he dropped to the ground, and started walking towards the town. It was probably about 5am.

Max's POV

I woke at about seven thirty, much to my disgust. Most of the flock was awake, and were talking quietly on two of the close together branches. I frowned; Fang, Gazzy, Angel, Bree and Liz were all sitting together. Iggy was sitting on his branch still, blind eyes open and looking in the group's direction, with Nudge still asleep against his chest.

"Morning Ig," I whispered. "Wake her up, we'll leave soon." I saw him nod, and then turned back to watching the others. They were discussing me, I could tell. I heard my name once, and crept along the branch above them, looking down with a curious expression.

"Crap!" I swore, loudly, looking down at the five, or six, newspapers all displaying my pictures: me dressed in tank top and jeans, wings half spread, eyes wide. My back, wings spread to their full thirteen feet. Liz and I, with her fixing my feathers – all of them were displaying large amounts of skin and feather.

I leaned down and snatched them all up out of their shocked grasps. I'd surprised them, and they all looked up at me.

"Oh, my, God," I whispered, shaking. The whole of the damned world probably had these. Me! Half dressed with wings out. The whole damned world would see my wings. I wanted to cry – how embarrassing… terrifying.

"It's okay, Max." Angel said softly, joining me on my branch, and patting my shoulder softly. "You're beautiful."

Liz's POV

Fang got back shortly later, his olive features slightly pale; he was holding an armload of papers. I woke Bree quietly, and we both dropped down a branch, which Fang joined us on. After a moment, Angel and Gazzy also came over to join us, and Fang looked seriously at us all.

"This is a nightmare." He said quietly, and spread the papers out on the branch before us, each of them showing images of Max, up close and clear. They were gorgeous photos – Max is very photogenic – but that isn't a good thing, remember. Each photo showed her face, and large amounts of pale skin. Perhaps the most worrying, though, was the thirteen foot wingspan that erupted from her shoulders and spread across the page. Each feather could be counted, her wings fully spread, half spread - My face looking over her shoulder. You could see the bullet wound on her left shoulder and wing. It was Gazzy who noticed his first.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the scar on the largest image of Max – Her standing with her back to the camera, wings spread fully. Gazzy looked at Fang for an answer, but he only frowned and leaned closer to the picture.

"Max didn't tell you?" I asked quietly, and they all looked at me. Fang shook his head. "She said she was shot."

They all stared at me.

"When?" Fang asked, sounding tense.

"I don't know. She didn't go into details." Fang looked like he was thinking over what Max had been up to, when we heard a loud "Crap!" and all started. The next instant, every paper was gone, and we all looked up to see Max above us, staring wide eyed at the papers, looking like she was about to hurl.

"Oh, my, God," She whispered, and I glanced at her flock, trying to read their reactions to Max. Gazzy looked unsure, Fang looked impassive, and Angel jumped up to crouch beside Max, who was above us.

"It's okay, Max. You're beautiful." I think that was supposed to be comforting, but really, I don't think it did anything. Max still looked like she was going to cry.

"What is it?" Iggy asked, landing just beside Angel, and Nudge scrambled across the branch, on Max's other side, looking woozy with sleep.

"Max got published." Gazzy said quietly. "Flashing her wings."

"That's not all she's flashing," Bree added smugly, and I punched him in the arm as Max went scarlet.

"Shut up," I hissed as Fang glared at Bree, who continued to look smug.

**Fifteen**

Ten minutes later – after I'd shoved every paper in the area into my backpack and sworn to bomb every newspaper publisher in America, and we'd eaten our delicious power bars – we took off into the sky, flying straight up and then heading once more towards New York.

"How far to New York?" Iggy asked, drifting past me, blind eyes facing ahead.

"Some 800 odd miles." I replied.

"Okay, so, like, 8 hours?" He asked, now looking at me with his non-seeing blue eyes.

"More, depending on when and how long we stop for."

"Cool."

We flew mostly in silence – that meaning Nudge talked and we all put up with her – for most of the day. -We got quite a way, only stopping when we had to, and even then it was well outside any town or people areas. I was a famous person – bird – mutant – now, so anyone could suddenly go 'My, you look like that flying chick in the newspaper' and I'd be busted. Liz wasn't allowed anywhere near people, either. I don't know what they planned to do with us when we got to New York, and didn't bother asking.

"Ma-ax" Here it comes, brace yourselves, "I'm hungry. Are we stopping soon?"

I turned my head to look at Nudge, who was coasting along on my left. She was playing with her nails, but looked up at me hopefully when she felt my gaze on her.

"Sure, I think we could use a break. Keep an eye out for somewhere to eat, then." She grinned at me, eyes bright, and dropped a couple of feet, eyes locked on the ground.

"You're not going into any towns." Fang said, gliding in beside me after Nudge left, obviously having been listening to us.

I glared at him. "Too bad."

"And what are you doing to do when someone recognises you?" He glared back at me.

My eyes narrowed, "What, so I'm going to sneak around outside New York, then?"

He smirked now, looking smug. "Only until we find one of those hairdressers that will give you and Liz one of those free make-overs." He sounded so smug about it, and that pissed me off. Glaring at him, I snarled something at him that I don't wish to tell you, and put on the turbo speed, rocketing out of there. I heard Liz exclaim in surprise when I zipped under her and Bree – they didn't know about my super speed.

I went for a long time, stopping only when I knew I was more than far enough away from the flock, hovering I looked down. I was over a forest, and I dropped down into one of the trees, feeling guilty now. I shouldn't have gotten angry at Fang, or left the Flock on their own. I had the credit card in my back pocket, so Nudge would be upset when I get back… She'd have to wait to eat, since no one else had any form of cash. I sat down heavily on the thick branch. I was quite high above the ground, and listened absently to the call of the birds around me, watching the little ones hop around on branches, or flitter through the leaves. It was very peaceful, and helped to calm me.

"Why, hello, little Birdie."

Oh, damn.


	8. Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20

**Sixteen **((I don't like this chapter… but anyway))

The other end of the branch took the impact of the fully morphed Ari landing beside the trunk, and I looked up at him in a surprisingly good impression of boredom. He grinned wolfishly down at me.

"What do you want?" Wow, I was doing this well. Ari seemed taken aback.

"Where's the flock?" He asked, apparently going along with my sullen mood, and frowning at me through his hairy, morphed face.

I shrugged; Ari blinked.

"Well then," He said, all sweet, "It's just you and me."

Ehk, what a horrible thought. I looked up at him in shock, and saw him grinning evilly.

"Oh, and my new friends, let me introduce them." Crap, look what I've done now. I remained sitting, trying to look dejected while my heart pounded and fear engulfed me. All around me, Erasers swooped in out of the trees, big, evil grins on their horrible, ugly faces. I watched them boredly. I'm so proud of myself.

"We saw you're picture in the paper, little Birdie. Dad isn't happy. Fancy you flashing your wings – and more –" what was it with boys and that comment?! – "In the papers. You're all over America." He sounded disgusted now, and I watched him with hidden amusement starting to overtake my fear.

"Really? Guess they'll bust the School up soon, then." I said slowly, almost smiling.

"Yeah, well, they might, which is why every mutant is on the line of extinction." Fear was in his beady eyes, though he otherwise sounded like his normal, threatening self.

"Really? Are you going to be first?" I asked innocently, and watched as Ari snapped, his heavy body springing towards me; claws outstretched to shred me, and would have if I hadn't thrown myself off the branch, dropping fast before flinging my pale tan wings out, catching the air and putting on super speed. I needed to get back to the flock, fast, and get us going in a different direction.

Being my turbo-speeded self, it didn't take me long to get towards the flock, and spot them, a pitiful distance from where I had left them, and coasting in my direction. They were all chatting – except Fang – and didn't see me until I was in their midst. I almost plowed into Fang, slowing down too late, and he had to dodge to the side to avoid me as I squeaked out a surprised warning.

"What the - " he began, and I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

"Ari is that way," I said, again waving my hand, but in the direction from which I'd just come.

"What?"

"Air. Is. In. That. Direction." I said slowly, staring him in the face. "Which means we're now going… That way" I pointed to the west. Fang was staring at me as if I was insane. "What?"

"You are insane." See, I told you.

"Whatever, but we're not going to New York anymore. We're going to Dallas."

"What's happening?" Bree glided over, carrying Liz, and Iggy followed. The Gasman, Nudge and Angel all hung back.

"Ari and a bunch of his Erasers are coming. From that direction. I just left them. We're now going to Dallas, so if you'd all fly in _that_ direction, right about _now_, I'd be rather grateful."

Bree looked confused, and Iggy looked worried. Liz was asleep.

"Are you okay, Max?" Iggy asked.

"I've already told her she's insane," Fang put in, and I kicked him in the shin.

"I'm _not_ insane." I said, irritated by their lack of co-operation. "Please, we need to go now." Oh, God, I was begging now.

Fang took a deep breath, as if it was painful to believe me – though I think it might be because his shin was throbbing – and finally nodded. "Ok, we're off to Dallas."

Wait a minute. Since when had the leader-roll been swapped?

**Seventeen**

Fang's POV

I was fuming. I'll admit that freely. Max was being so … so… Immature! What was she thinking? That no one would read the papers about a mutant teenage freak in Disneyworld? Jeezum. And she had the – the- Cheek! To get upset when I told her she wasn't going into populated areas. Sigh. This was more frustrating than it should have been.

And then she took off at turbo speed, leaving nasty words hanging behind her. Real mature, Max. Pah.

Iggy glided over, more than likely having heard the whole exchange, and the look the blind mutant gave me confirmed it.

"Were the photos that bad?" He asked softly, the tips of his feathers just touching mine on the down beats.

"Yes," I ground out. None of us had had the chance to read any of the articles – Max had nicked every paper she laid her eyes on. "All of them were full page, mostly showing Max's wings and face. Anyone who knows Max would be able to name her, and anyone who sees her will be able to recognise her. It's a disaster."

Iggy grunted. "You probably shouldn't have sounded so smug."

I blinked in surprise. I'd been smug? When? My eyes narrowed at Iggy, but he didn't know, so it didn't have any effect.

"She's already totally freaked that you've all seen her in her tank-top." Gazzy must have told him that… Actually, Gazzy had told him all about the photos. Why did he need me to confirm how bad they were? Oh well. I gave a sour sort of snort in reply.

"And then there will be Jeb." Wow where did that come from? He must of guessed at my confusion, 'cause he continued in a quite tone, "Max is Jeb's little angel, Max is the worlds savior, and Max is the one that just had her photo published flashing her wings all over America. We're going to have Erasers after us now. Jeb will want her back at school, where no one can find her, where she can't speak, or give away more."

I thought about this in silence and Iggy gave a small smile, and glided off to join Angel, Gazzy and Nudge. Liz and Bree were off to the other side, the girl asleep from the look of it. She'd startled when Max took off under her, but must have gotten over it.

Speaking of Max… I swallowed a yelp of surprise as I suddenly found her hurling towards me at turbo speed, and twisted off to one side, turning to look after her as she came to a skidded halt in mid air, looking winded and worried.

"What the –" I began, startled, but she waved me off, breathing hard.

"Ari is in that direction," she said, again waving her hand vaguely.

"What?" I repeated, staring at her in shock. Talk about 'speak of the devil'

"Ari. Is. In. That. Direction." She repeated slowly, as if _I_ were the one that was insane. "Which means we're now going that way." And she waved off to the west.

"You are insane." I said, staring back at her.

"Whatever," Ok, that's a worry. "But we're not going to New York anymore. We're going to Dallas." We're what?

That is when Bree brought Liz over. I was right, she was asleep. Iggy followed them while the kids kept their distance.

"Ari and a bunch of his Erasers are coming. From that direction." She said, but I zoned out, thinking. I came back to reply to Iggy's question:

"I've already told her she's insane," and got a thankful kick in the shin. And it hurt like H-E-double hockey sticks.

Max changed tactics to begging, and I smirked – inwardly – and took a deep breath (my shin hurt) before replying with a nod, "Ok, we're off to Dallas."

Max looked at me in shock.

OK, I officially do _not_ understand Max. But then, that could be a good thing, you know. After all, didn't she want to go to Dallas?

**Eighteen**

After about three hours steady flight – some 300 miles – we landed outside Columbus, hidden away in a rundown house, which we stole into and locked once we were all in. Bree and Iggy went into the city ((it's a city, right?)) and got us some food for us, which we ate with gusto, before splitting up the rooms: Nudge and Angel, Gazzy and Iggy, Bree and Liz, and I got stuck with Fang, who was still looking slightly confused (What did I do to get that look?) and we got the lounge. Yay for us.

"How did Ari find you?" Fang asked after a long, lengthy, huge, boring silence. Did I put awkward in there, because it was that, too.

I frowned, but then shrugged. "I don't know. I was just sitting in a tree, and he landed beside me. I reckon he was heading our way anyway, and maybe he saw me?" I looked up questioningly. Being his helpful self, Fang simply shrugged.

"Anyway, he said the whitecoats were on a rampage, and every mutant is on a 'line for extinction'." I sighed and rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on.

"Jeezum, Max," Fang sounded frustrated.

"Said the paper was all over the place, too." I added, just for good measure. Fang frowned at my head, since I had my face buried in my hands. I was watching him out of the corner of my eye.

"What do the papers say?" He asked tersely, and I shrugged.

"I haven't read them."

"Give them here."

I stared at him in horror. "No!"

"Max, hand them over." He extended one hand expectantly. I continued to stare at him in shock. "I've already seen the photos, Max. I want to read the articles." When I didn't make a move to get the papers, he glared at me.

"Fine." I said, _almost_ sulky, and dug in my backpack to find the now twelve papers all displaying my image with various articles under and around them.

Fang took the top one off the pile, and frowned at the article, reading it so fast his eyes looked blurry as they moved.

"Nothing in this one. They don't even know what they're talking about." He snorted, throwing the paper to one side, and picked up another. "Nothing." Again he threw it to the side.

He got to the seventh one, and then whistled slightly. "This lot know what their on about." He said softly, and handed me the paper.

"_**ANGEL OR FREAK?**"_

_The new security camera's, recently installed in the living rooms of all their hotels, are watched by a scarce staff that usually play cards. One guard, however, got more than he was hoping for when he glanced up to see a teenage girl standing in the door way of one of the rooms – with wings extending from her shoulders._

"_I thought I was imagining it," He told our reporters, looking dazed. "She looked about 18 or so, and five foot something. She was standing before a mirror on the side of the room, and suddenly this _wing_ extended from her shoulder! I thought I'd lost it. I called my mate over, you know, to make sure I wasn't going insane. We watched as this chick – does that count as a pun? – Started smoothing her feathers – _Feathers! _This other girl came over. She was heaps younger, red spiky hair. She helped her, and then the winged one spread her wing, and they'd be some thirteen or so feet from tip to tip, couldn't see them all from the camera. They are a light tan colour, very pretty. It was amazing." He said, sounding wistful, "then the red-head spotted the camera, and they started running around. I'd sent my mate to get the security guards up to the room, and then someone took out the cameras. When my work-mates got there, everyone was gone, and the girl jumped out the window. We assume she flew off, but we couldn't see her."_

_The girl and her companions – four males and three other females – are yet unnamed. Images of the other six are unable to be shown, unfortunately. They are aged from about 10 to 20._

_Although reports are not yet confirmed, it is rumored that at the least, the young winged woman is the same as the girl that showed up in New York last year, at a restaurant. Photos of the six flying children were taken then, though none are clear or able to be linked back to this same case. It does, however, seem likely._

_The young winged woman also fits in with the report from an anonymous person in (Area) that says they are 98 human, 2 bird hybrids. He refused to show himself to the media, saying he wouldn't put himself in that kind of trouble. There were six children when he saw them, apparently, and these two new ones are just that – new. He goes on to say that the bird-hybrids can indeed fly using their wings, which were sized up to 14 feet from tip to tip, and that they have many differences to normal humans. "Lighter bones," he says, "With air sacs and a larger heart and lungs. Utterly fascinating," he added, seeming awed._

_We will continue with our reports as we learn more._

"Well, that's not good." I said slowly. "Interesting title, and that's the doctor from the hospital, the one that sewed you up." I put the paper down, rubbing my temples almost absently. "'Young winged woman'" I quoted quietly, sounding tired even to myself.

_You're growing up_.

_Oh, goody, you're back. Well then, what should we do?_ I waited for a moment, but no response came, and I rubbed my temples and looked up to see Fang watching me worriedly.

"I'm fine," I lied, and he smirked at me.

"Sure. You should sleep."

"Yeah, right." I grumbled, but curled up obediently in the far corner of the couch, and, oh my gosh, fell asleep.

Fang's POV

I watched Max read the article after passing it to her, watching her expression. I smiled slightly, knowing when she read the bit about them thinking her 18, then her frown of worry as she continued. I wanted to reassure her, but that wouldn't have been me. Besides, I couldn't think of anything to say. I continued to watch her instead, but I don't think she noticed as she finished the article, and rubbed her head after putting it down.

I watched her worriedly as she told me what I had already figured out – the doctor and all – and then as she quoted part of the article. I almost smiled, but then she went hazy, like she does when the Voice speaks to her, and it was replaced by a worried frown. What now?

"I'm fine." Sure. A lie and we both knew it.

"Sure. You should sleep," I said instead, and smirked at her response even as she collapsed at the other side of the couch, falling asleep almost straight away.

I ran a hand through my lengthening hair, pulled my feet up onto the couch, and watched Max sleep, trying to figure out where it was we were supposed to go now.

_Leave America_ was the only thing I could come up with.

**Nineteen**

I woke early, way early, probably about 5am, and yawned as I opened my eyes, turning my head to look down at the other end of the couch. Fang was asleep. Hah. I slipped off the couch quietly, stretching to remove the kinks, and wandered over to the window, staring out into the darkness. Movement caught my eye, and I focused on it, watching it zoom into focus, - and swore loudly, causing Fang's dark eyes to flash open and stare at me.

"What?" He asked, stepping up beside me, immediately alert.

"There." I hissed, and pointed out the group I'd spotted, watching them slip through the darkness. He frowned at them, apparently not getting what he was looking at, and I rolled my eyes, about to tell him when:

"Shit." Oh, so now he gets it. "Let's go."

We turned and raced into the rooms that the others were sleeping in, me starting with Nudge since she was the hardest to wake, while Fang set about awakening Gazzy, the other slow waker. Angel woke quickly, and I shoved her cloths at her as I half dressed Nudge, who looked woozy.

"What's going on, Max?" Angel asked, putting her shoes on.

I was saved answering by the loud crash that echoed through the building, and I heard Liz scream.

"Erasers." I said flatly, and Nudge seemed to wake up suddenly, looking frightened, eyes wide. The two girls charged after me as I ran out of their room, down the hall towards where Liz and Bree had been sharing a room, and found it full of hairy, ugly Erasers.

"Hello little Birdie."

I ducked to the left as Ari's huge paw swiped out at me, just missing my face and swinging over my shoulder. I responded by spinning, kicking him in the knee, and watched him stagger back. I did a quick look-see while he recovered himself, crouching into a fighting stance.

Fang had two in the hall behind me, Iggy and Gazzy were holding off their own, looking irritated that they couldn't blow anyone up. Angel and Nudge were laughing in a corner, watching two Erasers bash each other up, controlled by Angel. Bree was standing in front of the corner farthest from me, with Liz crouched behind him, inching under the bed, watching us with wide eyes. He wasn't that good at fighting – lack of experience – and looking like he was struggling.

"Gazzy! There!" I got the boy's attention as I dodged out of Ari's way once more; avoiding the punch he'd thrown at me (Jeeze had he taken his time or did it just seem like it was in slow motion?) "Help Bree." The little boy nodded and zipped through the crowded room, leaving Iggy on his own to take out the single Eraser.

"Hey, little Birdie." Huh? I gathered my wits just to have them knocked out of me as Ari landed a solid punch in the side of my head, sending me flying against the hall wall behind me. My breath left me in an _'oof'_ and I tried to stagger upright as Ari's foot found my stomach.

So not fair.

I dropped onto my knees, avoiding a punch aimed at my face, and flung myself forward, and wrapping my arm's around Ari's knees, I tackles his feet out from under him, causing him to fall back into the room, and I scrambled off him, breathing hard, as Fang laid the boot into the Eraser's back.

Where'd he come from?

"Behind you!" I choked out as another Eraser appeared, swinging something that looked like a chair leg at the back of Fang's head. Said mutant didn't respond quick enough, 'cause he got whopped real good round the back of the head, and dropped like dead weight right in front of me. I stared in horror as the Eraser hefted his chair leg and gave a wild cackle of successful laughter and stepped towards me.

Then he blew up with a _boom_!

Everyone in the immediate area was thrown out in a wide circle with bloody gore, and I wiped my eyes clear, standing up. The Erasers looked shocked, and after a moment of staring, fled. Ari, snarling his usual threats, followed after.

What the hell just happened?

**Twenty**

"Report!" I called out; standing up wonky, dazed from the bomb Iggy - or maybe it had been Gazzy? – had set off.

"Here," Angel and Nudge said in unison, Angel rubbing her forehead and looking slightly pained, and Nudge looking wide eyed. They both stepped up beside me, eyes looking around the gooey room.

"Injuries?" I asked, frowning at Angel, who was still rubbing her head.

"Surprisingly fine," Nudge said, looking herself over with wide eyes, and then looking up at me with a small smile.

"Fine." Angel said softly. "But that _hurt_!" I assume she was thrown against the wall.

"Guys?" I called, frowning, and was answered almost at once by Iggy.

"Here," Iggy scrambled out of a pile of dust, brushing it off him, even though he couldn't see it. Gazzy followed after him, now grinning.

"Here – and that was _brilliant_! Mind, it looks nasty." Gazzy added quietly, grimacing at the room.

"Warn me next time, boys," I said, smiling slightly, and looking around. Gazzy and Iggy both nodded, at me, though Iggy looked confused.

"Where are Fang, Liz and Bree?" Nudge asked looking around, and I felt my breath catch.

"Fang's unconscious…" I said slowly, searching the room swiftly. "He was at the Eraser's feet…"

"Crap." Iggy swore, and I spun to look at him. His head was tilted slightly; I think he was listening for the missing three, but he didn't say anything or give any indications that he was.

A cough erupted from under the dusty, gory bed at that moment, and we all froze, before Liz's deep red, black tipped hair appeared from under it, and she pulled herself out, bright green eyes wide with shock. "What happened?" She whispered, staring, and then eyed the group off. "Where's Bree?"

"Bomb." Iggy stated simply, and Liz stared at him.

"So you blew him up?" Nudge asked, looking up at Iggy.

"Nope. Gazzy did." Iggy said, turning his blind eyes towards where Nudge was standing.

"No I didn't." The Gasman said slowly, his face paling.

I ignored them, and spun around, feeling panicky. "Fang? Bree?"

"I'm here." Came Bree's deep voice from somewhere off to one side. "Fang's here to, though I don't think he knows it." The hint laughter touched his voice, enough to reassure us that Fang was alive.

We found the two boys hidden behind something that looked like it was part of the door, and Bree was kneeling over Fang, his right pointer finger and middle finger pressed to the pulse on Fang's neck, his left hand holding his ribs. "He's totally out of it. He hit the wall."

"Iggy, can you tell us how damaged he is?"


	9. Chapters 21, 22, 23, 24 & 25

**Twenty-One**

Iggy ran his fingers over Fang with a feather-soft touch, his features giving away most of his thoughts, since he'd never really learnt to hide them. I watched silently, reading his face, waiting.

"Well, he should wake up soon. He'll hurt like all hell when he does, though." He sounded slightly amused, and sat back on his heels. "Are we getting out of here, then?" He asked, looking in my direction with his sightless eyes.

"Yes. As soon as Fang is awake." Iggy nodded.

"I could carry him," Bree said softly, standing at my shoulder, and I looked up at him in surprise. "If Iggy would carry Liz?" He looked inquiringly at the blind bird-boy, apparently forgetting that he was exactly that - blind.

"Ah, sure." Iggy said, surprised, and stood up slowly.

"Glad my opinion accounts for so much." Liz put in snidely, and I shot a look at her, and she flushed slightly, dropping her gaze, realising what she'd said.

"Your opinion doesn't matter right now. Okay. Let's get out of here. Nudge, Gazzy, get our stuff." I spoke quickly, looking at the two pre-teens, both of whom hurried off to do as asked. I then frowned at Angel.

"Are you alright, Angel?"

The little girl nodded, and I narrowed my eyes at her. "Do you have a headache?" I asked, concerned, and picked her up, hugging her to me.

Angel looked at me very seriously, then around at the others, before whispering. "I will tell you later?" It was sort of a question, but mostly a request. I nodded, and put her down. Nudge and Gazzy came back just then, and handed out the various items that belonged to us all. Liz had dug around and found her and Bree's items.

"Ok, let's get out of here." I got nods, and the younger kids took off out the window, followed by Iggy carrying Liz, her arm's wrapped around his neck, and him holding her lightly around the waist. I checked Fang again – he was still way out of it – and then nodded to Bree, who picked up Fang, and took off lightly. He was very strong – probably from carrying Liz everywhere – but I still caught his surprised look at Fang's weight. Huh.

"Heaver than he looks," he murmured, and I almost smiled.

"I know." I said simply, and we glided along air currents, keen eyes searching through the pre-morning darkness for somewhere to stay, heading in the direction of Dallas.

"Landing would be _really_ good right now, Maximum." I heard Bree's voice grind out, and looked in his direction, startled, eyes widening at what I saw.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." He looked worried, and I called the flock to order, and we dropped towards the ground. We were in that odd empty section of the world between crappy little towns. There was nothing except trees around us, and we landed in a thicket, between them, and Iggy set about making a fire with Gazzy, while Angel, Nudge and Liz all fidgeted a little behind Bree and me.

"Iggy! You said he'd be fine." I accused, brow furrowed as I looked down at Fang.

The blind mutant left the now crackling fire and crouched down at Fang's shoulder, fingers brushing over the back of Fang's head where he'd been hit, then over his forehead.

"He should be," Iggy sounded confused and lost, staring blindly down at Fang, who seemed to have developed some sort of fever, and was _muttering under his breath_!

"Well, he isn't!" I snapped, and then took a deep breath, trying to calm my pounding heart and the panicking feeling that was trying to rise to the surface.

"You think?" he replied, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Yes, I do." I snapped again, scowling, and gave him a shove. "Take the Flock, go and find a shop or something. We'll stop here for the day."

Iggy nodded slowly, standing up and taking Angel's hand. "C'mon. Let's go get some food."

Angel tugged her hand loose, looking at her shoes. "I want to stay here." She said, looking up at me seriously.

"Ok, fine, Angel can stay." My tone denied the others, who looked like they wanted to stay, too, and they took off, taking Bree and Liz with them.

Angel waited until they were out of sight, before moving over to me, sitting in my lap beside Fang's shoulder. "Will he be alright?"

"Yeah, I think he just has concussion." I said slowly, taking a deep breath as I dropped my gaze to look at the unconscious mutant, and then back at Angel's serious face. "What happened?"

I was referring to the house, her headache.

Angel grimaced, flushing slightly, and looked out over the fire. "I blew him up."

What?!

**Twenty-Two**  
I choked, coughed, and felt Angel turn to look up at me. I stared down at her, in shock... I think. Her little face looked up at me solemnly.

"Max?" Her voice was hesitant, and I blinked, and then hugged her close.

"Oh my God, Angel!" I said softly, "When did you get so scary?" Angel stared at me with her huge, beautiful blue eyes, which were slowly flooding, and then burst into tears.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry!" I gasped, being flooded with guilt, and hugged her close. Angel didn't reply, but clung to me. I don't know how long I held her, but once my shoulder was sufficiently drowned, she began hiccoughing, and finally taking deep breaths. After a moment she looked up at me. She looked gorgeous, even with red eyes, and I kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry, baby."

Angel hugged me, snuggling close, and whispered something. I had to ask her to repeat it.  
"I don't know what happened," She said, a little louder, a little more clearly. "He... he hit Fang..." She turned her head, looking up at me. "I thought he was dead." She swallowed back more tears as I nodded. "I was going to make him hit himself, with the table leg... But then he went for you!" She sounded outraged under all her tears, and looked up at me seriously, "I lost it... and he went _boom_!" She blinked.

"I've never lost control before..."

I stared at her.

"You can loose control?" That wasn't me... My head and eyes moved before I'd processed the thought, and I stared down at Fang, who was staring in return at Angel, looking as concerned as Fang can look. Angel was staring at him, too, looking stricken.

"You Okay?" I asked, causing Fang's gaze to flicker towards me. He nodded stiffly - what else was I expecting - and then returned his gaze to Angel.

"You can loose control?" He repeated, and I felt Angel shrink back into my arms. Why was she so afraid of Fang suddenly?

"Yes," She barely whispered, and I felt my own muscles stiffen. I forced myself to relax and just hold the little girl, now studying Fang's face.

Fang nodded slightly, but stopped quickly... Not the ideal motion to make with a case of concussion.

"I'm hungry." He said suddenly, forcing himself to sit up. Angel and I stared at him in shock.

"What?"

Fang frowned at me. "I'm hungry." He repeated, as if I were daft.

"I don't think you should eat. You'll be sick." Fang glared at me. Don't say I didn't warn you. I gently set Angel out of my lap, and moved to Fang's bag, digging up a couple of bars, and gave them to him with a 'you'll see' look on my face. Fang ignored me.

What was with him? Angel was frowning at him. Maybe his brains had been addled?

Five minutes later, Fang was paying for eating. I couldn't help smirk as he scrambled up, glaring at me as if it were all _my_ fault, and vanished into the bushes. Angel and I winced; it didn't sound fun.

"What's with him?" I murmured, not really expecting an answer, waiting for Fang to come back.

"I think you're right." Angel said... Hu? I blinked at her. "His brains have been scrambled." I laughed at her, before realising she was serious.

"You're joking, please?"

She pulled a face, not answering, as Fang came staggering back, looking pale, and slumped down at the base of the tree.

"Feeling better?" I asked, completely serious, concerned. He didn't even look at me.

_Ok, Fang is scaring me. _

_He is acting weird, isn't he?_ Voice chimed in, and I tilted my head, closing my eyes as I replied, ignoring the ever happening hammer of pain that accompanied Voice.

_What's with him? _

_Honestly?   
Well, no Duh. _

_I have no idea. _

_Well, that's just great._

One bonus. I got a straight answer.

**Twenty-Three**

Liz's POV

Shopping was easy. I stole the credit card off Iggy pretty swiftly, once we'd landed, and marched Nudge down the street to a lacey looking little clothing shop. It was nothing fancy, you know, just no-brand clothing that would keep us warm, but it was better than the op-shop. Nudge and I went wild, finding clothing first for ourselves and then Angel and Max. That took longer, since we had to guess at Max's clothing size and Angel too. It's really hard getting the shop owner to help you when you say your six year old is like, seven foot… Ok, I excaudate, but you know what I mean.

The boy's were less than enthusiastic, but they got themselves some cloths. Gazzy came out all done up like a bush; Iggy's cloths had been fought over by both Bree and Gazzy, before agreement was made, mainly because Iggy said if they didn't shut up he'd blow them up.

Charming person… bird… creature.

I made Bree find something for Fang, since he was about the same size. The youngster's seemed reassured by this, probably because you don't dress a dead person. Fang'd be fine.

After spending more than Max would like on her card – why does she care, it's not like she has to pay for it! – we marched off down to the road to where a shop was, and proceeded to buy anything that could be eaten in the air, and wouldn't kill the boys to carry. More money was spent. That was when Total declared that we had to buy food just for him. Even more money was spent.

And no one recognised me. Which is good, by the way.

"We can go back now, right?" Gazzy asked, looking worn out and slightly irritated, but not as much as Iggy behind him. I don't think that kid likes to go shopping…

Heh, and me calling him kid: He's two years older than me.

"Yeah, we'll head back now." I said, walking at the front of the group with Bree. Max really has them well trained… They'll follow any girl so long as she takes control. Pretty cool. I wonder if they'd do as Angel or Nudge told them… Probably not. Oh well, go me.

We left the town on foot, 'cause we didn't really want them to see us – or rather, the others – taking off into the blue. And I liked to walk. I like the feel of the planet under my feet. I've got nothing against flying bird kids, but it is nice to remember I'm human once in a while. Honestly, I think they all forget sometimes.

"I'm not walking any further." Nudge suddenly said, a rather short statement, especially from her, and she stopped. I turned around to look at her. We would be out of sight of the town, so I guess it would be OK. I shrugged in answer, and she sighed with relief. The dog bounded up into Iggy's arms, and huffed.

"I hate walking."

"Join the club." Wow, they really can whine. I frowned at Iggy, who didn't see it, being blind and all.

"Okay, we'll head back now." Playing leader is fun.

I went over to Bree, and the rest of Max's flock took off into the sky, with us following. Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy all had one bag each, while Bree had two. I was holding Max, Fang and Angel's new cloths in a squished bag.

We were only in the air about five minutes when everything went wrong.

**Twenty-Four**

It was getting late. I mean, really late. Fang had gotten a fire going: He seemed pretty normal now, though I caught Angel frown at him sometimes. We'd decided that he was out of it because of the knock to the head. Maybe I'll ask him later, but not now.

Right now, the flock was still missing, and it was starting to get dark.

The day had taken forever to go by. I mean, woken at around five-ish by blood-thirsty Erasers, blown up, Fang out cold. You know, it just wasn't the best way to start the day. But now, Fang was awake, Angel was asleep, and I was pacing a ditch in the ground because my Flock was still out shopping. I hoped.

Iggy isn't exactly a happy shopper, so I had been expecting them back maybe two hours at most after they'd left. You know, go to town, buy some food, come back here and annoy me by fretting over Fang.

They hadn't.

I forced myself to stop pacing and flopped down beside Fang, who was playing with our little fire. It was very little, but it was still a fire, and Fang is still a guy, no matter how bottled up he gets, and as such has a fascination with fire and water. It's a guy thing, I'm sure. Anyway, he was poking it with a twig absently.

"Must you?"

He didn't answer, but turned slightly to look at me out of the corner of his eye, and poked the fire again, the flicker of a smirk touching his lips. I thumped him in the shoulder, and he sighed.

"They'll be fine. From the looks of Liz, she probably took them shopping for cloths and stuff."

I frowned. "For the whole day?!" I snapped, "Jeezum, there was only her and Nudge, they wouldn't be able to drag Iggy, Gazzy and Bree around all day to look at cloths."

"What are we going to do, then?" He asked, turning to face me, brows arched questioningly.

"Wait for them," I said, rubbing my temples. Fang nodded. "What was with you…? Before, I mean?"

Fang's brows furrowed as he stared at me, and then shrugged. "Why?"

I shrugged in return, looking at the fire, "You acted really weird when you woke up. Angel kept frowning at you. And even Voice didn't know what was up." I turned to look at Fang, who was looking at me with as much amusement as Fang can show. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"I was decked with a table leg, and you expected me to be normal when I woke up?" He shook his head slightly, still smirking. I frowned at him.

"I'm fine, and you'll get wrinkles." It changed to a scowl, before Angel came over to join us.

"Feeling better, sweetie?" I asked as she sat down in the slightly smaller than Angel-sized gap that was between Fang and I.

"Someone's coming," She whispered, not answering my question and Fang and I both listened carefully, watching Angel.

"It's Gazzy!" She squealed suddenly, using my and Fang's shoulders to thrust herself forward to where Gazzy landed ungainly on the ground, followed moments later by Iggy. I rushed over to them, Fang at my heels.

Oh, my, God. "What happened?" I demanded, helping Iggy to stand, and dragging him over to the fire so I could examine his wounds. Angel led Gazzy over while Fang dug around in his backpack, bringing up the medical supplies.

"Erasers," Iggy said bluntly, wincing as Fang started applying antiseptic to his cuts. "They came out of no where. Nudge and Liz were talking about something. They took them."

I felt my heart freeze. I'd just been about to ask where the two girls and Bree were. I felt Fang stiffen beside me, and to my other side, Gazzy looked like he was trying really hard not to cry. Angel was clinging to him.

"Where," I ground out. It used to be easy: When someone was stolen, go to the School. Now there were freaking whitecoats everywhere.

"They were heading towards the School." Gazzy said, looking up at me. I expelled a breath slowly. So, we wouldn't need to dash around like mad-hatters trying to find out _where_ they had taken them, at least.

"Okay," I said, forcing myself into leader-mode, shoving my terror away. "Where were you when you were ambushed, and why didn't they take you two?"

"They would have. Iggy blew them up. And we were about five minutes by flight outside the town." I nodded.

"Right. Did they all go back?"

"Yes," Iggy said, sitting down as Fang moved towards Gazzy.

"We'll stay the night here, then." I said, already making plans, "and head out tomorrow. You two need to rest." I added, seeing both Iggy and Gazzy about to protest. Fang knew me, so he would have already known why we were staying the night, and Angel probably read my mind.

"Fine." They said, more or less in unison, and I made sure they were all fixed up before they collapsed and fell asleep. Angel joined them while Fang and I sat beside the fire, trying to work out why the School would want Nudge, Liz and Bree.

**Twenty-Fire**

Liz's POV

We were only in the air about five minutes when everything went wrong.

Eraser's suddenly dived at us from above, dropping like falcons out of the clouds, their wings easily maneuvered. These were the new ones; born knowing how to fly, how to kill, and loving it. I heard Gazzy scream something, and an Eraser went _boom_ before he was given a punch to the stomach, two of the beasts latching onto him. Iggy somehow knew, and both beasts were quickly destroyed: he made them drop Gazzy and then blew them up.

While this was happening, Nudge was taken out by three Erasers – one snapped her wings back, causing her to scream, another caught her and did something to her that made her black out, her slim body going lax and they carried her off, a helicopter appearing. We couldn't do anything, because there were about eight Erasers circling Bree, who wasn't sure what to do. He'd never had to fight Erasers in the air before, and he didn't know what to do with me. I was clinging like a limpet: There was no way he was going to let me drop.

I saw Iggy below us. I think Gazzy was somewhere there too, or maybe he was chasing after Nudge. "Drop me." I whispered harshly at Bree, who started. "Iggy'll catch me." Ok, I don't know why I suddenly had faith that the blind mutant would catch me, but Bree nodded, and I felt his grip loosen. I let go of his neck, and the bag of cloths, and dropped like a rock.

Right into an Eraser's waiting paws. Great.

Whatever that other one had done to Nudge, this one did it to me. I was out cold before I could form the idea of fighting him.

I woke up slowly, my body feeling like dead weight, and I almost wondered if I was dead, before realising that dead people probably don't wonder if they were dead. Besides, I hurt all over, which most likely meant I was alive.

Yay for me.

My eyes were reluctant to open, but I managed it, and stared up at the roof above me. It was an odd roof, and I lifted up an arm to touch it. It wasn't very far away. Groaning, I sat up, knowing where I was, even if I'd only been there once before, and cringing at the thought.

"Liz?" A soft voice and I turned to the left to see Nudge peering over at me through the bars in her crate. "You okay?" I nodded, and she licked her lips. "Is Bree okay? He's beside you." I stared at her for a moment, then turned slowly to look to my right, where sure enough, Bree was leaning back in his crate, eyes closed and looking as if he were having trouble breathing.

"Bree?" I whispered, and one eye opened slightly, watched me for a moment, then closed. "You okay?" He didn't even look at me this time, and I sighed, leaning back against my crate. I glanced over at Nudge, but she had her head buried on her knees, arms wrapped around them. Poor kid.

Hang on. "Where are Iggy and Gazzy?" I saw both Nudge's head pop up and Bree's eyes flash open as I finished my question, and we all peered around, trying to spot the two other bird kids. Neither of them were with us.

"They'll get Max. She'll come get us." Nudge said, looking positive about it.

I nodded, thinking, _I hope you're right._

Bree was focusing on his breathing. I could count it, _in, one, two, three, out, one, two, three; In, one, two, three, out, one, two, three._

I think I would have found it amusing, if it hadn't been for the fact that Bree never worries about anything, and his having to focus his breathing was really freaking me out. Nudge looked as if she were asleep, her head buried in her arms on her knees, but I could see her shoulders shaking. I think she was crying, and I wasn't sure how to comfort her.

I'm only a year older than her, you know.

The door opened, and I saw Nudge peer over her arms, and then shrink back against the back of her crate. Bree didn't move, but continued his counted breaths, eyes closed. Legs moved into the room, and I followed them up to see who I assume was Jeb. He walked to Nudge's crate, and looked at her for a moment, before stepping past me and crouching down beside Bree's.

"Hello, Bree." He said softly, calmly. Bree opened his eyes and stared at Jeb, but didn't reply.

"The Erasers say you were with part of the Flock." He continued, watching the bird boy carefully. "I need to know: Was Max there?"

Bree gave a sour snort, and glared at Jeb. "Which one?" What did that mean?

Jeb seemed a little confused, also, and frowned at Bree, "What do you mean?"

Bree just stared at him.

"I would really appreciate your cooperation in this." He said softly. "We know you were with Iggy and Gasman. They escaped, I realise that. We need to know what happened to Max, Fang and Angel."

Bree shook his head, looking sad. "You'd rather not know, Jeb." Bree had really lost me now, though Jeb looked more confused than anything, I think he was starting to worry.

"What happened?"

"Don't you read the paper?" Oh, Jeezum. Jeb's face hardened. "There is your answer." Bree said simply, staring at Jeb. "Fang and Angel went with her into hiding. I was bringing the others back here. They didn't know it, of course. Told them we'd be having Christmas at this place I know." Bree shrugged, his eyes flashing, "Then your stupid dogs came and (swear word of choice) it all up. 'Could have had the whole flock – or most of it." I stared at him through the crate, and then I dragged up every sour memory I could, and forced myself to cry. There was a moment's pause, and then Nudge launched herself into a fury, screaming vial words at Bree across the cages about trusting him and all that sort of shit. I grinned into my knees through my sobs.

Bree ignored us, and stared at Jeb for a while longer. "Well?" He demanded, motioning towards his door. Jeb didn't open it, but asked another question.

"What about Max II?"


	10. Chapters 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30

**Twenty-Six**

It was early, now, Fang and I still sitting by the fire. The kids and Iggy were asleep. Iggy had managed to keep Total with him, somehow, though they'd lost all the food, an apparently the cloths they'd bought for Fang, Angel and I. Bummer, but at least they had managed to bring the dog back. Angel had had hysterics when she couldn't see him at first, then Iggy had dug him out of his back-pack, and the little girl had nearly strangled the animal. She was a little happier now, and curled up around the black dog, sleeping quietly beside her brother who was snoring softly. Iggy's breath was soft and he was lost in the world of sleep. I turned my attention back to the fire, feeling Fang's gaze on me, and flickered a look at him.

"What?" We'd been silent for hours, but it was a nice quiet, not one of those awkward ones.

"Those pictures," He started, and I groaned inwardly, flushing. "There's a wound on your left side." I turned to look up at him, puzzled.

"What?"

"Liz said you said you were shot. When was that?" He was deadly serious, and I tilted my head, lost. I think it was the worry, lack of sleep and all that jazz, you know.

Fang sighed and ran his finger across the back of my shoulder, and slightly onto my wing. I sat shock still. "There." He said, watching me.

"Oh, yeah. That was ages ago." Fang remained silent, and I realised he wanted the whole story. Dang it. "Remember when we first left to look for Angel?" Fang nodded slightly. "And I saw that girl, down below?" His jaw tightened, and I knew he remembered. "Yeah, well the bozo boys had a gun. I beat their ass and told Ella to run, and belted out of there. One of them got a lucky shot in." I lifted my hand to my shoulder, "anyway, I found Ella's house by accident, and her mum's a vet." I snorted softly, "And she fixed me up. That's why I had an x-ray and how we found the chip." I widened my eyes innocently and looked up at Fang. "That's it… The end."

Fang didn't really look convinced, but let it ride. "So she knows about your wing?" He asked.

"Uh-huh. She x-rayed me. 'Course she knows. I didn't tell her about you lot, though… Not that matters now, she'd have gotten the paper and stuff…" I shuddered and chucked a piece of wood on the dwindling fire. Dawn was probably closer than I thought, since the sky seemed to be lightening. My sense of time has been really screwed up lately.

Fang didn't reply, but then, I wasn't really expecting one. I switched my gaze over to the flock, watching as Iggy stretched and sat up before wandering over.

"Morning Ig." I smiled up at the tall mutant, who dropped to the ground beside Fang.

"Hmm. Leaving soon?" He asked, extending a hand for one of the few bars we had left. Fang dug him up one, and he munched on it.

"Yup. Give the kids a little longer." I said, and he nodded.

"Give me your card, and I'll go get some more food." Fang said, looking into his backpack. I looked expectantly at Iggy, whose face had gone paler than it already was.

"Liz had it." He said softly, blind eyes wide. Fang and I stared at him. Fang's eyes narrowed suddenly, and a sly smirk ghosted over his lips.

"Why did little Lizzie have it?" He queried, and despite the dour situation, I had to smother a grin. Iggy flushed and his blind eyes narrowed in return.

"She nicked it. How old is that girl?"

Fang and I both shrugged, "About Nudge's age." Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Acts more like you." Fang laughed.

"Thanks." I said dryly, getting up to wake Gazzy and Angel.

We left just as the sun was coming up, and it was _damn cold_! Winter was really hitting in on us, Christmas was only a little way away, and I was determined to spend it at the hawks with my flock, Total, and Liz and Bree, if we could get them back.

The flight was uneventful and boring, to say the least. Without Nudge, there was no one to fill the silence, and no one to tell to shut up. We were all silent, no one bothering to speak at all. We rested almost not at all, and quickly returned to familiar grounds: and it made all of us way jumpy. Total silently watched us all; looking surprised at how jumpy we were, though he said nothing. Maybe the dog does have some brains in there.

"Welcome," I said sarcastically, "To Death Valley." And we landed lightly

**Twenty-Seven**

Liz's POV

Nudge went silent, her voice chocked off as Jeb asked about Max II, her brown eyes widening in her dark face, and a glare of death was sent to Jeb. I didn't really understand this. Of course, Bree had given me mild over-run of what he was doing when he snatched me away from the Whitecoats what seemed forever ago, but honestly, I didn't really get all of this.

Winged kids? Ethically challenged scientists? A clone? What was with the world I was so sure I'd known? I mean, I'd been bitching about what I was going to wear out with my friends, then was swiped one day after school, shoved into a van and given a thump to the head. I don't really remember much more than that, to be honest. I remember being here for a while, maybe two weeks, I remember being in a room with some other girls, and a couple of guys, of watching white-coated men and women stalk in, take someone, and then never see them again. I was left alone for a long time, before they finally took me to that Room.

I shook my head, shivering down my back, making the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I felt goose-bumps rise along my arms. I didn't like this place, but I had nothing on what the other's had been through, and if it weren't for their pearly looks, I wouldn't think it was all that bad.  
After all, I'd been treated OK on my last visit. They were only questioning me when Bree burst in. But what _could_ they have done?

God knows... Or maybe he doesn't...

"I don't know," Bree said, sounding irritated, and I wondered how much of the conversation I'd missed. I glanced sideways at Nudge, but she had her arms over her head, hands towards the back of her neck, and was mumbling something.

"Very well then," Jeb said with a sigh, and stood up, stepping away from Bree's cage, leaving the chestnut-haired bird-boy to glare at the scientist.

"Now, Liz, am I right?" He dropped to his knees by the door of my own crate, his eyes looking drawn.

I narrowed my own green gaze at him, and pursed my lips, not answering.

"Yeah, that's Liz." Bree put in, giving me a dirty look.

_Treacherous as-shole!_ I thought, glaring back at him.

"Good, good." Jeb said, looking pleased, and opened my crate, stepping back and gesturing at me, "Come out, Liz."

A wary glance at Nudge, who was now looking at me with wide-eyed fright. Probably wondering if I'd been in on all this with Bree; Or maybe she was horrified at the black streaks of eye-liner and mascara running down my face from my previous tears.

Maybe I'll ask her later.

"Come along, my dear. Now, is Elizabeth your full name?" Why the hell would he be interested in my full name?! I frowned at him, and then shrugged.

He frowned back at me, and took my upper arm in a firm grip, making me shiver in disgust. Ehk. Perverted, maniac men. Delightful.

After a short walk, Jeb lead me to a room, knocking a couple of times, the door was opened from within, where two women and a man were talking animatedly, looking excited. I felt my blood run cold as they all turned their hungry gaze's on me, and I wondered if they would turn into those Eraser-thingies. No, they weren't _that_ good looking. I glared at them, and I must have looked pretty intimidating in my running makeup and oh-so-deadly twelve-year-old glare.

"This is her," Jeb said, pushing me forward and releasing my arm, "Elizabeth Mariah Winters." I started at my full name, usually only spat out when I was in trouble. All of them looked at me eagerly, and one of the women stepped forward, and smiled warmly.

"Now, my dear, hold still while I... There... Catch her, damn it Dr.!" She squawked as the injection she'd shoved in my arm before I could pull away took effect, and darkness claimed my mind, leaving my body to topple to the ground like a rag-doll.

**Twenty-Eight**

_I have no idea what I'm doing. God! How are we supposed to bust the three of them out? Jeb must so know we're going to by now…_

"Max?" I started and blinked guiltily at Fang. He was frowning at me. The rest of the flock was behind us, hidden in a little thicket of shrubs and rocks. I was sitting a little ways off, under a half dead tree in the shade. Winter it may be, but this place still held the heat during the day. Of course, we'd all freeze our feathers off come night.

"What's up?" He sat down next to me, now looking out towards the cold-blue of the sky.

"Mmhmm?" I sounded, not looking at him, but dropping my gaze to my knees, which were pulled up before me, arms wrapped around them. _God damn!_

"Any ideas yet?"

_Damn it again. Always reading me like a children's picture book._

_Relax, Max._ Oh, jeeze, like I was stressing out to make myself happy. Give me some credit.

"No." I ground out, irritated. Fang glanced sideways at me in surprise.

"Relax, Max" He said, unwillingly quoting Voice, and I slumped my head forward, bashing my forehead on my knees with a groan of protest.

If I'd confused Fang before, he was now looking at me in shock.

"Like it wasn't bad enough, you knowing what I'm thinking, now you're quoting Voice!"

"What?" I saw Fang's eyes widen when I glanced sideways at him from my head-against-my-knees position.

"Both you! The pair of you are like – Ahh!" I sat back suddenly, cracking my head against the tree (can it even claim to _be_ a tree?) and felt tears prick my eyes. Great. Like I needed this.

"Damn it all!" I said, furious at myself and the whole damned world. Fang was still staring at me like I was insane. I resisted the urge to sneer at him… or something. He's lucky I was obsessing over my now pounding head and didn't see his smirk. That would have awarded him death via the most painful route I could think up.

But I didn't, so he get's to live. I wonder if he appreciates me as much as he should. I doubt it.

"I quoted The Voice?" He asked, making it sound like some fancy title. I frowned at him, still fingering the back of my head.

"Yes, O mighty Fang. Are you sure you can't read minds?"

Fang grinned, "Only yours," he said teasingly (what?) and I rolled my eyes.

"So, Voice told you to relax?" He asked, tugging my hand away from my head and parting my hair to see the damaged inflicted. I shrugged.

"Yeah,"

"Why?" He prompted, letting my hair drop and absently pushing it back into place. I shrugged again.

"Because Jeb must know we'll try to save at least Nudge. Which means there will be traps, yes?" I glanced at Fang, who was watching me in a bemused sort of way. "What?"

He shook his head, not answering. "Well then, we should do something they wouldn't expect."

"We are NOT leaving Nudge in with those lunatics!" I snarled, bristling at once.

"Of course not," He said pacifying, "we should just change our tactics." I snorted darkly.

"What tactics?" I picked up a stick and started terminating it. "Besides, you can't use brains against brainless idiotic Whitecoats."

He stole my half mashed twig, and put it delicately out of reach, as if it were something precious, his dark eyes alight with amusement. I thumped him in the thigh.

"True. Since we usually just storm in there and take what we want, perhaps we should try something else."

I frowned at him, confused. "What do you mean?" So I admitted I was completely lost. And Fang was grinning smugly. There's a first for everything, apparently.

"We could knock on the door," Fang started, still watching me in amusement, though I also noticed he had his hand on his thigh. Must've got him good. Haha.

"I don't think so," I said bluntly, switching my gaze back to the open sky.

"Or we could do a night-flight," he continued, not listening to me.

"Or you could be our guests," Fang and I both started, spinning on our rumps to stare at the Eraser's behind us in utter shock – Even Fang's face was a painting of surprise.

"What?" I spat out, eyes still wide and my heart pounding. My head was too. God only knows what I did to it, but the spinning wasn't good.

"Little birdies want their friends. So we'll take the little birdies in," He said sweetly. You know, it was only then that I realised he wasn't morphed, but just watching us all relaxed like and looking hot in that freaky un-morphed way Erasers did.

Yes, you did read that right. Un-morphed Erasers _are_ hot. If you avoid the dead, cold eyes and the predatory smile… Or the fact that they turn into huge bird-kid-eating monsters.

"And we should do as you say, _why_?" I demanded, rubbing the back of my head again.

"Just a couple of little reasons," The model-looking man said, that predatory grin finally forming on his face. I shuddered inwardly, but only quirked a brow outside. Mr. Eraser took this as his moment to bring out the hostages, and I groaned as I saw Angel, Iggy and Gazzy all bound and being dragged. Iggy had some nasty looking bruises forming on his face. Angel was scowling furiously and Gazzy looked a little dazed.

"Let them go!"

"Oh, I don't think so, pretty birdie. You're all late for a very important date," A woman stepped forward, her hands on her hips and smiling sweetly.

_Dear Lord…_ I can't think of anything else.

_Very amusing, Maximum._ Voice put in, and it actually sounded mildly amused. _Now, do you remember those four words?_

_Hu? What four words?_ I asked, trying to look disgusted at the Erasers. Fang was now standing up, and he practically hurled me to my feet, sending daggers at the Erasers.

'_Go with the flow'_ Voice said sweetly, and then vanished.

_Ohh, like I really want to go back to School_. Damn it all to hell and back.

"Fine," I ground out, feeling my blood go hot and cold. Fang glanced warily at me, while the three being held by the Erasers all let their jaws drop. A classical 'wtf Max?' look. Got to love their faith in their almighty Leader. Pah.

**Twenty-Nine**

I snarled as I was thrown into a crate, landing on my left shoulder, and whacking the back of my head against the side. I saw stars as the bruise I'd recently acquired was re-coloured. Blinking away the tears that shot to my eyes from the shock of the pain, I staggered into a technically sitting-up position, though I was using one hand to hold me up, and the other was gingery feathering over the back of my head.

"Jesus _fucking_ Christ!" I swore blackly, causing a couple of surprised gasps from the crates around me. Okay, I swear sometimes, and it isn't like blasphemy is unknown to me, but I can honestly say I've never sworn that badly. Iggy's usually the one with the dirty mouth.

"Max?" Gazzy's voice sounded high and frightened, and I grimaced, squinting to see past the stars and look at Gazzy, who was staring at me, wide-eyed from a crate across the floor of the van we'd been dumped in.

"Yeah?" I asked, still fingering the back of my head.

"Why didn't you fight them?" Iggy asked, his blind eyes wide open as he leaned back in his crate beside me, looking paler than his usually pale complexion should have allowed for. I grimaced.

"I have a plan," I lied, and glanced sideways at Fang, who was on my other side. "We're trying a new tactic." I actually had the wonderful delight of seeing Fang's face blanch. Wow, does that count as revenge? Hmm.

"Well, what is it?" Iggy demanded, picking at his sleeve hem.

_Ahh…_ I thought, frowning. "Well, Jeb knows we're going to bust them out. If he doesn't he's even more stupid than I give him credit for," I started, thinking at turbo speed for a plan, "So we need to find Liz, and Nudge, and Bree." Okay, that was all good, "and then I'll tell you the rest." Hah, go me.

Fang gave me a flat, 'dear Saviour' look, and I ignored him. Angel was also looking at me with an arched eyebrow, most likely having read my mind. Dang it.

I narrowed my eyes at her, and she nodded ever so slightly, before pulling her knees up and wrapping her thin arms around them, resting her chin there.

As the van started up and moved off, I lowered my hand from my pounding head.

"You all okay?" I asked, remembering Iggy's bruising face and Gazzy's glazed over look.

"Yeah," Gazzy said, sounding a little high-pitched still. "Iggy got bitch-slapped," He swore before I could correct him, and amusement just touched his voice. Iggy gave an irritated sort of snort.

"Hurts like hell, too."

"I can't control them," Angel put in quietly. Well, that explained her furious look, but still.

"How come?" I asked, puzzled. Angel could control anyone. Of course, she had withheld from using her power on me, for which I was very grateful.

"They had their minds blocked somehow… It was like a black emptiness," she sounded confused, and when she finished speaking, I didn't push for more.

We were in the van for longer than I figured we should have been, the ride was longer than it should have been, and I swear by my wings that the Eraser driving went through every pot-hole that he could find just to make my headache worse.

Well, at least it was a _normal_ head ache. How sad is that?

_Depends on your classification of sad, Maximum._

_Delightful, you're back_. I thought spitefully, _what now, then? I'm in the van on my way to the school - Any more bright ideas?_

_Perhaps they will teach you about manners._ Voice said, ignoring my questions.

_They teach fear; and little else._

_So, you fear the school?_ Voice asked.

_More like what they might do to the flock._ I retorted, frowning.

_But not yourself?_ Voice didn't sound convinced.

_Of course myself; they hurt me by hurting my flock._

_But they cannot hurt your physically?_

_What on earth are you trying to get at?_ I was so totally lost it wasn't funny. Thinking of Total…

"Where's the dog?" I asked, wide-eyed.

**Thirty**

Liz's POV

I came-to slowly, feeling a deep pain in my whole form, as if my insides were no longer whole, but at the same time it was something more than that, something I can't begin to explain to you. I hurt like all hell, though, and even before I realised that I was conscious once more, I knew that I was in great pain, knew it was going to hurt even more when I woke up properly, and I tried to find that peaceful blackness that I had, until just then, been buried in.

Quite simply, I did not want to wake up, and fear began to flow through my veins like my blood.

"She's waking up." The voice was clear, and though I knew the person who spoke was a long way away, I could hear them oh-so-clearly. It was odd, and I groaned almost inaudibly. I couldn't see anything, even with my eyes wide open, and for a moment I panicked, thinking I must have gone blind, or they had made me blind. Why me? I was just an ordinary twelve year old girl; I liked to shop, hated my school, and missed my parents. Why was my world being turned upside down? Why was it important that my name was Elizabeth Mariah Winters? Not a one of those three were unique names or meant anything special. That I knew of.

I groaned and staggered into what I considered an upright position, but I'm not sure many people of the world would agree with me. I was right, before, when I said waking up would hurt. I hurt like all hell and something worse. Every muscle felt as if it had been shredded, my bones from the top of my head to each of my toes ached. I think I would have preferred to be dead, actually.

"Evening." I looked up, frowning slightly, picking out the subtle shades of a human through the darkness, and my eyes narrowed, legs folding up before my chest, arms wrapping around them, retreating into myself and pulling my body into a ball. I was dressed in one of those hospital robes.

"What do you want?" My voice was a dry croak, barely audible, even to myself

"We have been waiting for you to wake. Now that you have, I am going to turn on the lights, okay?" His voice was warm, and slightly worried, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe he feared I had magically become Maximum Ride and was about to whoop his twisted ass.

I wish.

"Whatever," I said lowly, no longer looking at him, but at my shadowed knees. The Whitecoat nodded at me, and spoke into a walkie-talkie that he had on his left shoulder, asking for the lights to be switched on.

I screamed as the bright light seared my eyes, feeling as if lightning had just gone off but refused to retreat; my arms flew up over my face, and I pressed my knees into my eyes with all my might, as if that might stop it.

I heard the Whitecoat speaking: "Tone them down, you fool! Do you want to destroy her! Damn!" The lights toned down, I know this because they were no longer searing me through my knees, and I hesitantly lifted my head from my knees, looking cautiously at the Whitecoat before me. The light was almost not there, really, like an after-glow when you turn off a light, the room was lit. But I could see everything perfectly, and a frown pulled my brows together, lips pursing into flat lines to hide my fear. I had never been known for great eyesight.

"Please come here, Miss Winters," the man said, and his warm smile was back. Now, I've heard stories of all the evil that the Whitecoats are made of, but this man just didn't fit in with what seemed to be the main stream, or the inner circle. For one, he was old, and I mean _old_. Like, maybe seventy odd years, perhaps even as old as eighty. He was plump and short, with silvery white hair and a round face. His eyes were a crystalline blue and warm. There was nothing threatening or fearful about this old man who stood before me, asking me to step up before him.

That put me on alert straight away, but I obeyed him all the same, frowning still as I got up cautiously and walked towards him, my movements stiff and jerking as it hurt to move.

"There's a good girl." He smiled at me, the warmth washing over me, and I looked up at him. For all his short height, he was still taller than me. I am only 5 foot, and though I know I've still got some growing to do, I don't think I'll be as tall as any of my friends. They are mutants, but they are also over my height – only Angel, at just over 4 feet, was shorter than me. How sad is that?

We talked for a while, and I learnt a lot of things. Perhaps the most important was that I'd been out for five days, meaning I'd been in this dump of a place for nearly six days. I asked about Bree and Nudge, but Santa – that is the name I gave the Whitecoat that I first saw because he wouldn't tell me his real name – wouldn't tell me anything about them. I didn't know what had happened to the rest of the flock either, but at the time, they were less than first on my list of important things.

"Why do I hurt so much?" We were just getting somewhere now. Santa had left me to get used to the light after feeding me and making sure I was awake and aware. He was back now, and I picked absently at a slice of apple.

"That is understandable," Santa started, pursing his lips for a moment, looking like he was thinking how to phrase what he was going to say next. "We've manipulated your DNA."


End file.
